There were no distinctive Highland companies either in the British or Continental service from this settlement. A company of royalists was secretly formed at Fort Edwards, under David Jones (remembered only as being the betrothed of the lovely but unfortunate Jane McCrea), and these joined the British forces. There were five companies from the county that formed the regiment under Colonel Williams, one of which was commanded by Captain Charles Hutchison, the Highland corporal whom Ethan Allen had mobbed in 1771. In this company of fifty-two men it may be reasonably supposed that the greater number were the sons of the emigrants of Captain Lauchlan Campbell.
The committee of Charlotte county, in September 21, 1775, recommended to the Provincial Congress, that the following named persons, living in Argyle, should be thus commissioned: Alexander Campbell, captain; Samuel Pain, first lieutenant; Peter Gilchrist, second lieutenant; and John McDougall, ensign.
Captain Joseph McCracken, on the arrival of Burgoyne, built a fort at New Perth, which was finished on July 26th, and called Salem Fort.
Donald, son of Captain Lauchlan Campbell, espoused the cause of the people, but his two brothers sided with the British. Soon after all these passed out of the district, and their whereabouts became unknown.
The bitter feelings engendered by the war was also felt in the Highland settlement, as may be instanced in the following circumstance preserved by S.D.W. Bloodgood:[99]
"When Burgoyne found that his boats were not safe, and were in fact much nearer the main body of our army than his own, it became necessary to land his provisions, of which he had already been short for many weeks, in order to prevent his being actually starved into submission. This was done under a heavy fire from our troops. On one of these occasions a person by name of Mr.——, well known at Salem, and a foreigner by birth, and who had at the very time a son in the British army, crossed the river at De Ruyter's, with a person by name of McNeil; they went in a canoe, and arriving opposite to the place intended, crossed over to the western bank, on which a redoubt called Fort Lawrence had been placed. They crawled up the bank with their arms in their hands, and peeping over the upper edge, they saw a man in a blanket coat loading a cart. They instantly raised their guns to fire, an action more savage than commendable. At the moment the man turned so as to be more plainly seen, when old M—— said to his companion, 'Now that's my own son Hughy; but I'm dom'd for a' that if I sill not gie him a shot,' He then actually fired at his own son, as the person really proved to be, but happily without effect. Having heard the noise made by their conversation and the cocking of the pieces, which the nearness of his position rendered perfectly practicable, he ran round the cart, and the ball lodged in the felly of the wheel. The report drew the attention of the neighboring guards, and the two marauders were driven from their lurking place. While retreating with all possible speed, McNeil was wounded in the shoulder, and, if alive, carries the wound about with him to this day. Had the ball struck the old Scotchman, it is questionable whether any one would have considered it more than even handed justice commending the chalice to his own lips."
A map of Washington County would show that it was on the war path that led to some terrible conflicts related in American history. Occupying a part of the territory between the Hudson and the northern lakes, it had borne the feet of warlike Hurons, Iroquois, Canadians, New Yorkers, New Englanders, French, English, Continentals and Hessians, who proceeded in their mission of destruction and vengeance. As the district occupied by the Highlanders was close to the line of Burgoyne's march, it experienced the realities of war and the tomahawk of the merciless savage. How terrible was the work of the ruthless savage, and how shocking the fate of those in his pathway, has been graphically related by Arthur Reid, a native of the township of Argyle, who received the account from an aunt, who was fully cognizant of all the facts. The following is a condensed account:
During the latter part of the summer of 1777, a scouting party of Indians, consisting of eight, received either a real or supposed injury from some white persons at New Perth (now Salem), for which they sought revenge. While prowling around the temporary fort, they were observed and fired upon, and one of their number killed. In the presence of a prisoner, a white man,[100] the remaining seven declared their purpose to sacrifice the first white family that should come in their way. This party belonged to a large body of Indians which had been assembled by General Burgoyne, the British commander, then encamped not far distant in a northerly direction from Crown Point. In order to inspire the Indians with courage General Burgoyne considered it expedient, in compliance with their custom, to give them a war-feast, at which they indulged in the most extravagant manœuvres, gesticulations, and exulting vociferations, such as lying in ambush, and displaying their rude armored devices, and dancing, and whooping, and screaming, and brandishing their tomahawks and scalping knives.
The particular band, above mentioned, was in command of an Iroquois chief, who, from his bloodthirsty nature, was called Le Loup, the wolf,—bold, fiercely revengeful, and well adapted to lead a party bent on committing atrocities. Le Loup and his band left New Perth en route to the place where the van of Burgoyne's army was encamped. The family of Duncan McArthur, consisting of himself, wife and four children, lived on the direct route. Approaching the clearing upon which the dwelling stood, the Indians halted in order to make preparations for their fiendish design. Every precaution was taken, even to enhancing their naturally ferocious appearance by painting their faces, necks and shoulders with a thick coat of vermilion. The party next moved forward with stealthy steps to the very edge of the forest, where again they halted in order to mature the final plan of attack.
Fortunately for the McArthur family, on that day, two neighbors had come for the purpose of assisting in the breaking of a horse, and, when the Indians saw them, and also the three buildings, which they mistook for residences, they became disconcerted. They decided as there were three men present, and the same number of houses, there must also be three families.